SC 9-judge bench to revisit definition of ‘industry’ | India News
NEW DELHI: A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will hear on March 17 and 18 the correctness of the broad definition of ‘industry’, laid down by a seven-judge bench almost 50 years ago, bringing universities, hospitals, government institutions and welfare organizations under the Amdubit Act. Employee-employer relationship.The petitions have been pending since 2002, and on January 2, 2017, a seven-judge SC bench referred the issue — whether the triple test laid down by Justice Krishna Iyer in the 1978 seven-judge bench judgment in the Bengaluru water supply case is correct — to a nine-judge bench.A bench comprising the CJI and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said on Monday that apart from examining the correctness of the seven-judge bench’s judgment, the nine-judge bench will also consider the interpretation of ‘art’ in Section 2(j) of the ID Act.Section 2(j) provides that ‘industry’ means any business, trade, undertaking, manufacture or calling employers and includes any calling service, employment, craft or industrial occupation or application of workers.It laid down the triple test – systematic activity; Organized cooperation between employers and employees; and production/distribution of goods and services to meet human needs – which includes virtually every activity under the ID Act. Courts excluded sovereign functions – defence, law and order – from the ambit of ‘industry’.The nine-judge bench will consider what state activities fall outside the definition of Article 2(j), the bench said while asking the counsel to strictly adhere to the hearing schedule spanning nine hours over two days. It said that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and other law officers will get four hours and others who are opposing the central government will also get four hours.
